Small packages or cartons of certain products, such as cigarettes for example, are generally displayed in self-service racks or rows which extend either horizontally or vertically. These types of merchandising displays are generally located in a check-out line of a supermarket or near the check-out counter of a convenience store. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,316, for example, trays having a plurality of adjacent horizontal rows are disposed in a vertical arrangement along with a sign holder for advertising the product to be displayed for sale. While the self-service operation of such displays may lessen the involvement of store personnel in the direct sales of the product, it also increases the accessibility of the product, such as cigarettes, to potential shoplifters.
To overcome the susceptibility of the openly displayed product to theft or unqualified customers, recent trends have included merchandising display cases which are maintained under lock and key. These types of display cases allow the manufacturer to fully display their packaged product as well as any advertising messages. The purchase of the displayed products, however, requires store personnel to interrupt their current activity in order to unlock the display case and remove a packaged product for the customer. This process is not only burdensome on store personnel, but may greatly irritate the impatient customer who must first find a store clerk to assist them and then wait for the display case to be unlocked.
A further alternative to the locked display case includes behind-the-counter stocking of the packaged product. In this situation, the products are readily available to store personnel when requested by a customer. Significant merchandising opportunities may be lost, however, if the merchandise is removed from the immediate transactional area.
Therefore, a need exists for a display case capable of limiting the susceptibility of the packaged product to theft while maximizing merchandising opportunities.